Digital Rights Management Coup?
So I'm having a hard time figuring out what it means that EMI just OK'd non-DRM tracks. (Thanks, by the by, to bryant for the link.) Overall, I'm not a big fan of digital rights management. It's a losing battle from a technical perspective, and from a commercial perspective, it's fairly clearly an artifact of an old(er) model for selling music. If we can draw lessons from history, I'd argue that we're highly likely to ultimately move toward a simpler model in the long run.
So is this, in fact, a death knell for DRM in the music industry, or is it just an ill-advised foray into treacherous waters that will eventually spell doom for EMI? Steve Jobs certainly made his position clear, presuming that it wasn't, of course, smoke and mirrors, and presuming that the clarity of his position wasn't just a reality distortion field.
Any thoughts on this one, folks? The tech-savvy consumer is probably glad that he can download unencumbered tracks from the iTunes Music Store now, but is this a watershed moment or merely an aberration?
So is this, in fact, a death knell for DRM in the music industry, or is it just an ill-advised foray into treacherous waters that will eventually spell doom for EMI? Steve Jobs certainly made his position clear, presuming that it wasn't, of course, smoke and mirrors, and presuming that the clarity of his position wasn't just a reality distortion field.
Any thoughts on this one, folks? The tech-savvy consumer is probably glad that he can download unencumbered tracks from the iTunes Music Store now, but is this a watershed moment or merely an aberration?